I recall being at an after-party in a hotel in Coventry, lots of familiar faces, all the usual suspects from the forum and otherwise, Mike Bisping had fought and won and had arrived back at the hotel battered with his manager (Anthony ?) it was about 3am and the barman tried to close the bar so Anthony said :-

"Can I make one last drink order?"

So the barman very reluctantly agreed, so Anthony said :-

"Can I have 20 pints of lager, 10 pints of cider, 10 pints of Guinness please"

And made the barman pour them all, Anthony paid for them all and we carried on boozing for a few more hours.
I used to have a picture on an old mobile of this big table entirely full of full pints, there wasn't room for a box of cigarettes on there.

For fear of sounding like a massive bumder, I miss the old shows so much, it was so social and raw, lots of memories.

I recall being at an after-party in a hotel in Coventry, lots of familiar faces, all the usual suspects from the forum and otherwise, Mike Bisping had fought and won and had arrived back at the hotel battered with his manager (Anthony ?) it was about 3am and the barman tried to close the bar so Anthony said :-

"Can I make one last drink order?"

So the barman very reluctantly agreed, so Anthony said :-

"Can I have 20 pints of lager, 10 pints of cider, 10 pints of Guinness please"

And made the barman pour them all, Anthony paid for them all and we carried on boozing for a few more hours.
I used to have a picture on an old mobile of this big table entirely full of full pints, there wasn't room for a box of cigarettes on there.

For fear of sounding like a massive bumder, I miss the old shows so much, it was so social and raw, lots of memories.

The old CWFC Skydome shows had some great memories and aftershow moments. Ditto those in Sheffield too and the FX3 events in Reading. I can think of dozens of incidents which in there own little way were memorable.

Even away from those shows i remember doing crazy things like going to Newcastle to Pride and Glory 2 (Bisping's MMA debut), to going to Huddersfield that night with the Butlin's and then onto Portsmouth for the first FCFN and that crazy 3x10 minute Superfight (plus much more) and then going to the aftershow. I spent far too much time getting coaches and trains and waiting out all night with other forum people after shows like Extreme Force and Cage Rage in London, the old Ultimate combat shows in Chippenham and Bristol and even witnessing all kinds of craziness at Extreme Brawl in Bracknell and round that way.

There was some really good times, yeah following the scene in the early days meant i was constantly broke but i (and many others) paid our dues this way. But back then the scene and the people in it really did feel like a family. Before the days when guys got 2 wins and thought they should be in the UFC, before the days of social media and excess hype, that was what UK MMA was all about. It was pure, it was gritty but it was fun.

Sure there was A LOT of bad times too, but as a kid in my 20's going to CW (and non-CW) events and meeting people i chatted to on the forum, or seeing fighters who were already big names in the scene it was pretty exciting. Every show had it's own story, it's heroes, it's legends, it's characters and it's own niche which made it stand out and special.

Nowadays UK MMA is mostly pretty generic and doesn't have that character and that 'family' feel to it, but the trade-off is that the guys who really matter, the fighters have a lot more options to go out and make something of their talent, which is only good for the scene and those in it

The old CWFC Skydome shows had some great memories and aftershow moments. Ditto those in Sheffield too and the FX3 events in Reading. I can think of dozens of incidents which in there own little way were memorable.

Even away from those shows i remember doing crazy things like going to Newcastle to Pride and Glory 2 (Bisping's MMA debut), to going to Huddersfield that night with the Butlin's and then onto Portsmouth for the first FCFN and that crazy 3x10 minute Superfight (plus much more) and then going to the aftershow. I spent far too much time getting coaches and trains and waiting out all night with other forum people after shows like Extreme Force and Cage Rage in London, the old Ultimate combat shows in Chippenham and Bristol and even witnessing all kinds of craziness at Extreme Brawl in Bracknell and round that way.

There was some really good times, yeah following the scene in the early days meant i was constantly broke but i (and many others) paid our dues this way. But back then the scene and the people in it really did feel like a family. Before the days when guys got 2 wins and thought they should be in the UFC, before the days of social media and excess hype, that was what UK MMA was all about. It was pure, it was gritty but it was fun.

Sure there was A LOT of bad times too, but as a kid in my 20's going to CW (and non-CW) events and meeting people i chatted to on the forum, or seeing fighters who were already big names in the scene it was pretty exciting. Every show had it's own story, it's heroes, it's legends, it's characters and it's own niche which made it stand out and special.

Nowadays UK MMA is mostly pretty generic and doesn't have that character and that 'family' feel to it, but the trade-off is that the guys who really matter, the fighters have a lot more options to go out and make something of their talent, which is only good for the scene and those in it

amen.

i miss kainer2 and the unfitone, they were good guys

man, when you're the nail, hang in there....until the day you become the hammer

I have another albeit long story involving Rob Butler, Barrington Patterson, about 20 x Zulu Warriors, lots of violence and some guy standing shoulder to shoulder with me getting smacked full force in the face with a chair and concertinaing to the floor like a puppet that just had its strings cut, me and Rob looked at each other and agreed "time to go?" & bailed out of there about 2 seconds later.

It was after The Cheesecake Assassin had submitted Musoke, and Turner had a FOTN was with Hamid Corassani at Superior Challenge. We headed out on the town in Stockholm with the DNFT crew who are well renowned for a dance battle, particularly McVeigh.

We'd originally struggled to even get in the club with bashed faces and what not, but Corassani knew the bouncers and we slipped in past the queues, making our way to the dance floor. From there, we proceeded to throw shapes and cut the rugs until a circle had formed. Dragging in random passers by and bemused looking fighters, we forced them into doing an, often awkward, solo routine in the middle of the circle until we deemed it appropriate that they left. Thales Leites' two step, Daniel Acacio grinding on Swedish chicks and plenty more. Pretty amazing looking back.

My final memories of that night were flying kicking posters of Tom Jones and sprinting round Stockholm with various Scots in a shopping trolley.

just watched those two videos. bloody hell the first one there is a lot of blood. hard to tell which was worse.

second vid was amazing. that's entertainment. quality. loved that series of suplexes/missed moonsault. and the end obviously. did they cut his head with a blade? i remember watching muta in the luger/flair/sting tournament.

I rember going to jersey with mr Furness..firstly we was accosted by customs (probably cos jay was dodgy)
Then after the show going to the after party an surrounded my people off there faces on "legal highs"
Some random guy asking pro fighters for drugs.
Declining an offer of a house party with aload of dodgy looking people.
Ending up at a woman's house watching people wanking on chat roulette
Getting cock blocked by a gay guy.
Was an emotional evening

An incident at a fight show involving two high profile fighters and various other parties which evolved into an internet argument complete with threats, led to an assault at another fight show and then there was a kind of a statement from one or possibly both guys that it was not what it appeared to be.

Any opinions I express on this forum are entirely personal opinions and it should not be assumed that they reflect the official view of any organisations I am connected with